The invention pertains to the field of sample preparation systems, and more particularly, to the field of control systems for automated sample preparation systems.
In many industrial production facilities and laboratories, there is a need to assay sample chemicals being prepared, analyzed or otherwise processed. Such samples can come in many different forms. For example, they may be solid, liquid, two phase liquid or liquid-solid, and may or may not be highly viscous. Many types of assay systems require liquid samples of known viscosity and concentration. An example would be a liquid chromatography system.
Obviously, there is a need for systems which can prepare many different types of samples for assay by such machines. Preferably such systems are automatic in the sense that after the user defines the type of sample preparation needed, the system automatically carries out this processing on samples until told to stop or until the sample preparation runs out of samples.
Because of the many different types of sample formats and because of the many different types of sample preparation processes which exist for various types of assays, there is a need for flexibility and programmability in a control system for an automated sample preparation system. The user must be provided the facility with which the particular types of samples he or she intends to process may be prepared in a process for which the steps and sequences of steps are defined by the user. In this way the user can tailor the automatic sample preparation system for use in the environment peculiar to that particular user.
Prior art automatic sample preparation systems exist in the form of robots. One particular type of robot of which the applicants are aware is a robot manufactured by Zymark. These robots may be programmed to emulate all the movements a human being would make in doing a sample preparation process manually. Unfortunately, such systems are complicated and expensive and difficult to use because of the complexity of the mechanical machinery and control computers and software needed. Thus, a need has arisen for a control system for a sample preparation system which is flexible, programmable, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.